Doctoral Dissertation Improvement Grant: Conceptualizing Classic Maya Polities: Regional Settlement Patterns in Northwestern Petén, Guatemala

在大卫·弗赖德尔博士的指导下，达米安·马尔肯将对危地马拉佩滕西北部被毁坏的皇家城市埃尔秘鲁-瓦卡周围的定居点进行广泛而深入的区域研究。他将通过分析卫星图像、全面的地面调查和在住宅区的试掘来做到这一点。主遗址及其周围的定居点提供了一个绝佳的机会，可以调查一个大型的、具有区域战略意义的玛雅政体的统治者与当地人口之间长期变化的关系。聚落模式研究在推进古典时期（公元200-900年）玛雅社会政治组织的考古学概念方面发挥着不可或缺的作用。在墨西哥东南部和中美洲的玛雅低地，政体的增长/收缩和定居点分布的过程在站点和子区域之间存在很大差异。这项研究将记录El Perú-Waka'政体内的定居群体范围，以确定农民、商人、工匠等玛雅王国社会基石的家庭如何表达。El Perú-Waka'位于危地马拉西北部的拉古纳德尔蒂格雷国家公园（PNLDT）的南部。PNLDT是该国最大的国家公园，拥有中美洲最大的受保护湿地。复杂的地形、茂密的植被和季节性气候使该地区的大部分地区未经勘探或调查。目前，秘鲁瓦卡省在国家土地开发计划中受到最大的考古关注。对外围地区的初步调查和侦察表明，在El Perú-Waka '附近存在着各种各样的定居点类型，从孤立的土丘到较小的纪念中心，有些建筑表明，有时，作为El Perú-Waka'政体的“前哨”，（马尔肯2007 b）.来自同时代象形文字文本的数据表明，El Perú-Waka'在古典时期的政体间政治、军事和商业联盟中发挥了重要作用。证据表明，公元500-800年，在蒂卡尔和卡拉克穆尔的主要地区首府之间的敌对关系中，皇家王朝为雄心勃勃的军事霸主提供了关键的附庸，在历史上不断变换效忠对象此外，地理、陶瓷和金石学证据表明，El Perú-Waka'位于沿着两条重要的陆上贸易路线，一条是南北走向的，位于Calakmul和Petexbatun地区之间，另一条是东西走向的，位于Tikal和Usumacinta河之间。 这项研究将研究政体内几个进程之间的相互作用。这些问题包括定居点与环境的关系、中心定居点与周边定居点的关系，以及这些因素如何结合起来影响和改变自然和社会景观。这项考古实地工作为当地人提供了就业机会，更大的El Perú-Waka'项目在PNLDT内的生态和文化保护工作中发挥了重要的合作者作用。在公园内保持科学的存在，有利于保护和驻扎在该地区的政府人员的基础设施和信息支持。从文化遗产保护的角度来看，拟议的研究将记录危地马拉一个重要的国家公园和自然保护区内的考古资源及其被破坏的证据。通过测绘调查中遇到的抢劫者的战壕，可以评估PNLDT非法挖掘的范围和强度。这些信息对公园内的保护和安全人员非常有用。 研究结果将在当地以向Paso Caballos社区有抱负的导游提供改进的指南的形式传播，在全国通过在危地马拉城举行的年度专题讨论会上的正式报告和介绍传播，在国际上通过在同行评审的期刊上发表文章传播。

Under the direction of Dr. David Freidel, Damien Marken will undertake an extensive and intensive regional study of the settlement surrounding the ruined royal city of El Perú-Waka', northwestern Petén, Guatemala. He will do this by means of the analysis of satellite imagery, full-scale ground survey, and test excavations in residential compounds. The main site and its ambient settlement present an excellent opportunity to investigate the long-term changing relationships between the rulers of a large, regionally strategic, Maya polity and their local sustaining population. Settlement pattern studies play an integral role advancing archaeological conceptions of Classic period (200-900 AD) Maya sociopolitical organization. Processes of polity growth/contraction and settlement distribution are quite variable between sites and sub-regions in the Maya lowlands of southeastern Mexico and Central America. This research will document the range of settlement groups within the El Perú-Waka' polity to identify how families of farmers, tradesmen, craftspeople, the social building blocks of Maya kingdoms, articulate. El Perú-Waka' is located in the southern portion of the Laguna del Tigre Nation Park (PNLDT) in northwestern Guatemala. The PNLDT is the largest national park in the country and contains the largest protected wetlands of Central America. The difficult terrain, dense vegetation, and seasonal climate have left large sections of this area unexplored or lightly surveyed. At present, El Perú-Waka' has received the greatest archaeological attention in the PNLDT. Initial survey and reconnaissance of outlying areas indicate that a wide range of settlement types existed in the vicinity of El Perú-Waka', from isolated mounds to smaller monumental centers, some with architecture suggesting that they, at times, functioned as "outposts" of the El Perú-Waka' polity (Marken 2007b).Data from coeval hieroglyphic texts suggest El Perú-Waka' played an important role in Classic period inter-polity political, military and commercial alliances. Inscriptions indicate that the royal dynasty provided key vassals to ambitious military overlords in the antagonistic relationship between the major regional capitals of Tikal and Calakmul from 500-800 C.E., repeatedly shifting allegiance throughout its history. Furthermore, geographic, ceramic, and epigraphic evidence suggest that El Perú-Waka' was situated along two important overland trade routes, one running north-south, between the site of Calakmul and the Petexbatun region, and one east-west, between Tikal and the Usumacinta River. The research will study the interplay between several processes within the polity. These include the relation between settlement and environment, relations between central and peripheral settlement, and how these combined to affect and alter the natural and social landscape.This archaeological field work provides local people with jobs and the larger El Perú-Waka' project has functioned as an important collaborator in ecological and cultural conservation efforts within the PNLDT. Maintaining a scientific presence within the park facilitates infrastructural and informational support of conservation and government personnel stationed in the region. From a cultural heritage conservation perspective, the proposed research will document the archaeological resources and evidence of their destruction within an important national park and natural reserve in Guatemala. By mapping looters' trenches encountered in survey the extent and intensity of illegal excavation in the PNLDT can be assessed. This information is highly useful to conservation and security personnel within the park. Results will be disseminated locally in the form of improved guidebooks supplied to aspiring tour guides in the community of Paso Caballos, nationally through formal reports and presentations at the annual symposium in Guatemala City, and internationally through articles in peer reviewed journals.